MG Motor’s Chinese design studios will be developing options for a new sports car this year, according to well placed insiders.
Exploratory sports car work has been scheduled for the vast SAIC design studios in Shanghai, which works in tandem with its studio at Longbridge in Birmingham.
However, a new sports car is not yet in the MG Motor product plan, because the brand has more vital models to pursue first. Instead, the aim is to investigate the kind of vehicle that a new sports model might be.
Proposals are likely to include a traditional Mazda MX-5-style roadster, although the company might conclude that Mazda has this market sewn up, one source suggests. The 2012 Icon SUV crossover concept will also be a starting point for the exercise.
MG is considering a halo model for the brand, too. This will not be the sports car but, again, could be partly inspired by the Icon. A halo model will need to appeal to buyers in China, where sports cars have very limited appeal. So an SUV or crossover seems more likely, especially since it will have international appeal.
Before any halo model is ready for the showroom, though, there will be a more stylish replacement for the 6.
After the new 6, there will be a production version of the CS concept crossover unveiled at last year’s Shanghai show. A Qashqai rival, it’s scheduled for a 2015 launch, although it’s not clear whether this model will be part-built at Longbridge like the 3 and the 6.
The CS shares its platform with the 5 compact family hatchback, which might go on sale in the UK at a later date, but in facelifted form with updated powertrains.
An official announcement about the company’s next steps is expected later this year, possibly at MG’s 90th anniversary celebrations at Silverstone in June.
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How do you define good? They
Everything needs to be now. All you ever get from MG is sketches and pipe dreams. Mazda is leagues ahead of MG and thats hardly a runaway sales success.
The BTCC seems to be a side distraction as there seems to be virtually no significant impact on the brand. Well sales speak for themselves.
MG needs to think hard and long about it's future! It needs a different direction and more specifically good people that can help grow and foster it's brand.
Whats confused about it, they
both are sporty, not particularily in the way they go, but the way they look, and with numerous options over a million in total, it is possible to have a very bespoke product, teh Sportscar mooted here, wont happen for at least a decade, they have other things to worry about first.
New MG6
New MG5
New engines and Gearboxes
New CS
then there will be the facelifted MG3, the MG5 will not come to this country in its current guise, maybe a decent facelift will make it a better bet, Mazda has proven that a medium sized saloon can sell with the Mazda3, so who knows.
I am more interested if MG will continue with BTCC after this, the third and final year, of these sponsorship, I fear that they will not carry on, and save teh vast sums of money they are ploughing in, however I really hope to be proved wrong.
Same old, same old